Graham Bonnet Band
The Book
Frontiers Music Srl
2016
Most people will instantly recognize Graham Bonnet as one of the singers of Rainbow, but some might not realize that he has numerous more albums, which include entries in the MSG, Alcatrazz and Impellitteri discographies not to mention his involvement in two Blackthorne albums and more than half a dozen “solo” albums.
He returns in active “recording” duty, after, god knows what, – ten years (Taz Taylor Band)? Since whatever was released with Graham’s name/involvement was either 70s recordings, old live performances with Rainbow and Alcatrazz, but nothing “new” really…
He returns under the Graham Bonnet Band monicker, with the man of course on lead vocals, Beth-Ami Heavenstone on bass, South American guitarist Conrado Pesinato on lead guitar, ex-Alcatrazz man Jimmy Waldo on keys, and Mark Zonder (Warlord & Fates Warning) on drums, who thankfully sounds a bit meatier here, than his glass thin jazzy standard.
Graham says: “I think this is what people want to hear from me and won’t be disappointed”. And I have to agree to a great extent, as I had a couple of friends telling me how excited they were about the album, even before I could listen to it and it’s rather true. This is the best Graham sounded in a long time, for two reasons basically… because he hadn’t released something in too damn long and secondly, because the tracks are actually carefully selected and quite tastefully combining all the things you might have loved about the man’s career and he even seems able to push out quite the voice, even pushing seventy. Damn! Obviously there’s a bit of tuning and don’t expect his voice to sound like it did back in the early 80s, but all in all it has held up pretty well, all things considered, as one might attest in songs like the rocking “Into the Night”, the melodic “Welcome to my Home”, the anthemic “Earth’s Child (I Am Your Son)”, which is a bit of a revelation and pretty much everything else from “The Book”, to “The Dance” or “California Air”.
Make no mistake; “The Book” is a strong album, full of well-crafted songs. So much, that the bonus disc featuring re-recorded versions of some of the best 16 known classics from Graham’s solo career and with Rainbow, Alcatrazz, MSG and Impellitteri feels like unnecessary. In it, Warlord keyboard player, Angelo Vafeiadis assumes the key-duties and it sounds a little weaker production wise.
Surprisingly solid, but very welcome return.
He returns in active “recording” duty, after, god knows what, – ten years (Taz Taylor Band)? Since whatever was released with Graham’s name/involvement was either 70s recordings, old live performances with Rainbow and Alcatrazz, but nothing “new” really…
He returns under the Graham Bonnet Band monicker, with the man of course on lead vocals, Beth-Ami Heavenstone on bass, South American guitarist Conrado Pesinato on lead guitar, ex-Alcatrazz man Jimmy Waldo on keys, and Mark Zonder (Warlord & Fates Warning) on drums, who thankfully sounds a bit meatier here, than his glass thin jazzy standard.
Graham says: “I think this is what people want to hear from me and won’t be disappointed”. And I have to agree to a great extent, as I had a couple of friends telling me how excited they were about the album, even before I could listen to it and it’s rather true. This is the best Graham sounded in a long time, for two reasons basically… because he hadn’t released something in too damn long and secondly, because the tracks are actually carefully selected and quite tastefully combining all the things you might have loved about the man’s career and he even seems able to push out quite the voice, even pushing seventy. Damn! Obviously there’s a bit of tuning and don’t expect his voice to sound like it did back in the early 80s, but all in all it has held up pretty well, all things considered, as one might attest in songs like the rocking “Into the Night”, the melodic “Welcome to my Home”, the anthemic “Earth’s Child (I Am Your Son)”, which is a bit of a revelation and pretty much everything else from “The Book”, to “The Dance” or “California Air”.
Make no mistake; “The Book” is a strong album, full of well-crafted songs. So much, that the bonus disc featuring re-recorded versions of some of the best 16 known classics from Graham’s solo career and with Rainbow, Alcatrazz, MSG and Impellitteri feels like unnecessary. In it, Warlord keyboard player, Angelo Vafeiadis assumes the key-duties and it sounds a little weaker production wise.
Surprisingly solid, but very welcome return.